~We are the fantastic four~: nostalgia lingers in the air

i just realised that we are J5s this year. FIVE! 5! 五! ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! why in the world are we aging so quickly??!! And the new 78 juniors are in 06s78!!! zero-SIX!!! Funnily though, i found out from 03s78's blog that there are only 4 pathetic guys in the new J1 class. Wah!!! Why the oestrogen overload?

OK, sorry ah. a bit crazy there... i just can't believe how time has flown by since we entered and then left Hwachong. I still remember those J1 days clustered round our NUMEROUS CT benches in the display area (when everybody else had to squeeze in their pathetic little ones)... all of us still in our respective secondary school uniforms and trying to remember each other's names. That first day we gathered as a class in the inner plaza and nominating Kaiwei and Aishu (mm, or was it self-nomination?) for CT reps. Playing dumb games like zhong1 ji1 mi4 ma3 with chi hsien and val. The fun and dirty orientation games that we went through together as a class (which JX conveniently escaped and went back to st nicks, leaving me alone with no friend in the class), singing the class song, and the weird class cheer that we had (it went something like, 'something something... let's do our slide~' with ai mei mei ending it with a '你怕了吗？') . The mad days and nights that we put into making the stupid lantern with the overweight horse, constructing the 'jigsaw costume' that Xiaoke had to parade in, and painting the funny horse banner for CNY. I still remember the times bitching abt bears and those who are not descendents of the dragon, cursing the Ho ba4 zhang3 for making chemistry hell for us, and just getting pissed off at Chiam for favouring 02S66 more than his own CT class.

I miss the times when all our class girls would get menstrual cramps EVERY PE session, playing dangerous basketball with dangerous players, and me screaming 'I am Beckham's wife!' so loudly during our soccer sessions that Mario heard it. I look back and laugh at the times when we'd all fall asleep/write in the class diary during Chinese cultural lessons in J1, as well as those days when xiaoke would set the sink in the bio lab on fire with ethanol... or when the guys dissected the rat's brain, then put the poor animal into boiling water to cook it. Oh! Oh! And the many bio pracs spent copying Mdm Tan's answers straight off the OHT! I recall occasions when 78 guys would go into the toilet dry, then come out of it all drenched cos they'd been doing really mature things like playing with water. And of course, who can forget that very one time our dearest B4 ponned chem lect, went to the library, and smartly waved an animated hello to HOLY? 'Twas funny though... when they were shamefully chucked back into Tiger Lee's lecture on that fateful day.

I miss sitting on the 2nd last row of seats in LT3 (last row's for the guys!). The many many hours that we were in that big green room... filling in blanks in our bio, chem and maths notes... shivering non-stop as cold air assulted us mercilessly from the air vents above our heads. But of course, there were also times when the aircon went on strike too... and we were left sitting in the swealtering heat, listening to Miss Wong go on and on about plants for a good hour and a half (and she had the portable fan to make herself comfy then!). Oh, and chem lects! Anybody wants to sit right under the clock? Congratulations to guan qun and kenneth and kokjing who have all at one point or another been nominated to answer questions based on their location 0 degrees south of the clock. Physics lectures in the audi were always something that I struggle to pay attention to... especially those after lunch. It was so nice, so spacious, so dark. And 78 always sat way behind (save for that one time we sat right in front to 'try out' the big fat cushioned chairs), passing 酸梅 around, or sneakily eating potato chips and chocolate and biscuits and basically having a feast while the circular motion guy talked to himself at the front. lol.

Songyu once randomly sang the funeral song during one of our Physics tuts when I sat beside him. He sang it softly, but loud enough for Mr Chiam to hear it and plaster a look of amusement on his face. And of course, we all still remember that time when this same boy got thrown out of class for not doing his chem tut... but subsequently went on to shock HOLY with his intelligence when he came back 5 minutes later with all the tutorial questions worked out. Oh, and who can forget how 'save the Kah Suan week' all begun? KS's precious tears... shed for that scrungie that Shiyan pulled off her hair and which Songyu calmly placed into the bin during Mr Lui's Maths tut. Talking about Mr Lui... oh, he's such a funny guy. Full blown campness complete with butt shake and a high pitched voice... i hear his voice 'eh, you all don't bully her ah'. HAHAHA. Mm, having mentioned most of our teachers, I guess I shouldn't leave out the lovely Mrs Elaine Toh? She was always so sweet, so gentle, so thoughtful and friendly, so intelligent and well informed. But I don't think I'll ever forget that one time when KW accused her of making a sweeping statement, which promptly caused her to walk out of class... that one time when Mrs Toh was different from what she usually was, was scary.

And I remember all the pain we went through as well! Monday morning chem tuts were the worst (!), with HOLY grilling us on oragnic chem, transition ions, and all that chemistry that I have conveniently forgotten. I recall the 101 bio lectures in which I find myself slowly nodding off... I did try so so so hard to keep awake, but my eyelids of lead still nearly landed me in trouble with Mrs 'no yawning' Foo. I remember us all sitting at the CT benches studying, copying (tutorial answers), questioning, discussing, and even encouraging each other. We all worked so hard... Coping with all that learning. Coping with all that failing. Pushing ourselves so very hard because that exam was to determine our futures. Our hopes, our dreams- all decided based on those 20 over hours of exams. Block test after block test, mock paper after mock paper. The Prelims. The A levels. We rode the storm together.

And finally, freedom.

- The New paper big walk 02.
- Class chalet 02.
- Doice Vita.
- Class camp 03 (rem when stupid guys ran away in all directions during our walk about sentosa at night? leaving behind 1 nightblind YC, 1 very scared JX who burst into tears, and a very angry me and JW.)
- Class chalet 05.

I could go on forever with this whole reminiscing business. But I think I shouldn't lest I drive you all asleep in boredom. But I just want to make my point-

Thank you 02s78. Thank you for a lovely 4 years of friendship. Thank you for the karaoke days, CNY mahjong sessions at Mdm Tan's place, once-weekly trips to TCHS for honeydew milk and assorted edibles.... Thank you for the love, the memories, the smiles. I thank God for you.